


Another World

by Ruuger



Category: The X-Files
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon, Angst, Early Work, Episode: s09e04 4-D, Euthanasia, F/M, My First Fanfic, Paralysis, Season 09
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2003-08-18
Updated: 2003-08-18
Packaged: 2017-10-02 08:40:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 379
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4537
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ruuger/pseuds/Ruuger
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Parting is all we know of heaven, and all we need of hell."</p><p>Set during "4-D".</p><p>(Note that this is the very first fanfic story I ever posted online)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Another World

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to Lynne, Gabs and Nicole for looking this over. The title of the story comes from a very lovely song by Brian May.

She pressed the button and the sound of his electronic heartbeat died away. The room was now silent except for the slow breathing of the machine. The silence mocked her, begging her to say something, and she wanted to talk.

She wanted to explain, to ask if this was really what he wanted. She wanted to tell him how much he meant to her, wanted to tell him that she loved him. There was so much to say, but the words escaped her, leaving her mute like him, her fingers the only part of her left alive. She flicked open the plastic cover of the second button.

He looked so fragile, lying there on the hospital bed, nothing but a lifeless imitation of the man she had known for eight years. Only in his eyes could she still see the real John - her John - trapped inside a dead body, struggling to escape, but not succeeding. He had asked her to do this, not because he believed in what she had said, but because he was tired, and she was doing it for him, not because she believed what she had said, but because she loved him.

Hesitating only for a moment she pressed the second button. In the silent darkness of the hospital room she heard the machine take its last breath; saw his eyes turn into glass as the soul escaped them and his life faded away.

Her eyes blinded by tears, she let go of his hand and reached down to touch his face.

"I love you," she whispered, her speech returning to her, too late.

There was a sound of approaching footsteps - a nurse, a doctor, maybe Dana or someone else - but she did not care. Gently she closed his eyes and took his hand in hers again, pressing it against her face.

"Goodbye."

Then, unaware of the shouting and the sound of the door being forced open, she leaned over to kiss him, her tears falling on his face.

"I love you," she said one last time before an orderly led her away, and as the door closed between them, she felt an odd sense of hope in her heart. A feeling of certainty that somewhere, in some other world, her theory had been sound.


End file.
